Garage sale with history

Event promotes Lincoln Way and its days as highway across U.S.

Event promotes Lincoln Way and its days as highway across U.S.

August 17, 2006|JIM MEENAN Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND Today, to many, what is now called Lincoln Way in South Bend and Mishawaka is simply a road that with an interruption or two will take you across South Bend and Mishawaka. But to those with an appreciation of history, and knowledge of its past, Lincoln Way East and West is much, much more. Long before a Holiday Inn, a rest stop or even a simple sign on a highway telling you how much farther you had to go to reach the next town, there were things like tourist homes, where travelers spent the night in townsfolks' homes, and hotels that were control stations, where they learned how far they still had to go to reach their destination. It happened on a coast to coast highway called Lincoln Highway. That same Lincoln Highway is Lincoln Way today. Trying to celebrate that rich history the Lincoln Highway Yard Sale Days were held last week across Indiana and Ohio. South Bend held the garage sale Friday and Saturday. "The whole purpose is to draw attention to the historic corridor," said Jan Shupert-Arick, Indiana director of the Lincoln Highway Association. "In Indiana we are working to have the Lincoln Highway routes (there are two) designated as historic byways." Such a designation would create signage put it on maps, she said. "People don't realize it was part of the first coast-to-coast road in the U.S.," Shupert-Arick said of the Indiana sections of the road. "The whole movement is to preserve what we can along America's historic corridors." It didn't exactly feel that way to some of those holding garage sales. Marlena Wilson, and her mother, Loretto Pellow, set up shop on Lincoln Way and Knoblock in South Bend, not far from the airport at Wilson's front yard. "We got back in town and had a flier in our mailbox about the Lincoln Way Yard Sale, so we just knew it was the best time to do it with all the advertising already out," Wilson said. Neither she nor her mother knew about the reason behind the sale. But they were pleased to be a part of it. "Definitely," Pellow said. "Now that we have found out about it." Much farther east, Consuealla Hopkins set up shop in front of her business, Consuella's Accounting and Tax Service. "So far so good," she said Friday morning the first day of the two day sale on Lincoln Way. "We are meeting a lot of people from the neighborhood, stopping by and it's early and we are already doing well." Baskets, linens, home furnishings and dresses were among her offerings with the proceeds going to The Church of Jesus Christ. A member of the Lincoln Way Steering Committee, she knew the reason behind the sales that dotted the road. "And when we found out about it, we definitely wanted to do our part to promote Lincoln Way." John Oxian, chairman of the land use and marketing committee of the Lincoln Way West Steering Committee, was happy to get Lincoln Way behind the two-state effort if just to promote the local end of the road. "We are just trying to publicize Lincoln Way West and if it's successful, put (the garage sale) on every year," he said.Staff writer Jim Meenan: jmeenan@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6342